In English: "Another reason for pride, that of being a citizen! For the poor citizenship consists of supporting and sustaining the power and idleness of the rich. They must work for those goals before the majestic equality of the laws, which forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets and to steal bread."

I think this one is better with context, even if only key phrases are highly memorable. --Eli the Bearded 19:09, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I've moved the version quoted here to "Misattributed" and included the details. ~ Jeff Q(talk) 13:51, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

I suspect this may not be from France or if it is from France it is incorrect.

My main reason for suspecting this is that I remember first reading it as a section heading in The World of Mathematics, Neumann, ed., many years ago. I cannot locate the set right at the moment but I am almost certain that the version I read involved fifty thousand Frenchmen, a reference to "Fifty thousand Frenchmen can't be wrong."

The other reason to suspect it is that there is no original French version. JimCubb 20:13, 7 August 2010 (UTC)

I've added one of may favorite AF's quote to the Russian WQ. From Russian to English it can be translated as "I wanted to know everything. It was why I did not become a scientist". But I'd also like to supplement it with the original. It is definitely from France's letter to Albert Langen written in 1904. May be somebody knows how it sounds in French. I was unable to find this letter in Google at least. Thank you in advance.

Not only in "The New Age" (1914, vol. 14, p. 363 at MJP), but probably also in "The Indian Review" (1921, vol. 22, p. 594, see "Index" here: [1] / [2] or [3] / [4]; unfortunately, full version is not currently available). --Djadjko (talk) 02:55, 5 January 2017 (UTC)